Whitehaven applies for emergency trucking

WHITEHAVEN Coal has applied for emergency approval to truck coal from its Narrabri mine after a train derailment.

Shipments are expected to interrupted until Christmas when the track repairs are completed.

Trains have been unable to move coal between Narrabri underground mine, in north west NSW, and the Port of Newcastle after the track was damaged on November 28.

The company says trucking coal is the best way to avoid production and financial losses due to the expected month-long stoppage.

On Thursday Whitehaven said it had received advice from the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) that it expects the track to return to operation by December 25.

The company has applied under environmental laws to transport up to 80,000 tonnes a week using 59 coal haulage trucks for up to three months.

"The application specifically relates to the emergency transport of coal by road until such time as the damaged railway has been repaired and rail transport of coal can recommence," Whitehaven said in a statement.

Whitehaven managing director Tony Haggarty said the company had to proceed with contingency planning.

"Should the approval be granted, it would take some time to build up to the maximum permitted trucking level," he said.

"This is due to both the difficulty in sourcing large numbers of trucks at short notice and the need to manage the process safely through a staged ramp-up."

If it cannot transport coal from Narrabri, the coal stockpile capacity at the site would be reached this month and operations at the mine would need to cease, the company said.

"This would result in lost production and financial impacts as well as the potential need to dislocate employees to other operations."

The company says other measures are being taken to avoid any shut down of production.

Whitehaven has provided a traffic assessment and a road noise impact assessment as part of the approvals process.